Fall 2013

Fall 2013

Left to right: Singing with my fifth-graders at the orphanage school. One of my tenth-grade students who played Mary in the Christmas story. Washing our feet after an agape feast. Off to a floating house church on Sabbath morning.
what a real volunteer’s life should be and He gave me His vision. Little did I know that this was just the beginning of my journey. One day I was talking with one of my students. He told me that he had come from an orphanage school in Siem Reap, a province north of Phnom Penh. I felt that God’s plans for me might involve staying longer in Cambodia, perhaps another year. As the boy told me about the school, it sounded like music to my ears. We had a holiday in September, so I joined several other volunteers and went to Siem Reap. A visit to Wat Preah Yesu Orphanage School was part of the plan. After my fist day there, I was sure I wanted to volunteer there
nonprofit, humanitarian organization designed to assist the Seventh-day Adventist Church in proclaiming the gospel to people everywhere through the ministry of Adventist volunteers. Adventist volunteers may serve as pastors, English as Second Language teachers, school librarians, computer technicians, orphanage workers, and more. If you’re interested in serving as a volunteer, visit to apply.
the next year. But was that God’s plan? On our last morning there, I asked God to bring me to Wat Preah Yesu if it was His will. I finished my service at Cambodia Adventist School and four months later I was back in Cambodia. This time I lived in the countryside in a wooden house that I shared with three housemates. The water, from a pump, was always cold. The air, without conditioning, was always hot. Yet despite the heat and humidity, I felt I was in the place of my dreams! My students had never had music classes before so my work was very challenging. But when it came time for the Christmas program, the children performed beautifully. I’ll never be able to describe all the ways God worked in my life while I served in Cambodia. My experience was so much more than an adventure. It opened my eyes, built my faith, revealed my selfishness, shifted my paradigms, and tumbled the walls of my prejudices. I experienced a special connection with Christ that I couldn’t have had at home. Jesus has given me a burden for the salvation of all humanity. He’s given me a burning desire to serve Him every year of my life. He’s given me more than I could have ever imagined.
From Puerto Rico, Olga BonetaRodriguez volunteered as a music and English teacher in Cambodia.
The Adventist Volunteer Service is a
The special choir.
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